Baltic, Nordic countries to step up ship monitoring in Baltic Sea

The Baltic and Scandinavian countries are planning to step up ship monitoring in the Baltic Sea after an underwater power cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged over Christmas, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said on Monday.

Paluckas said the countries are working on a plan to ensure the security of energy infrastructure.

"An action plan is being drafted and will be coordinated not only among the three Baltic states but also with Scandinavian countries to ensure, first of all, certain monitoring – tracking ship movements and assessing risks to ensure prevention in the future, including through technological means," the prime minister told reporters.

"The action plan is currently in preparation," he added.

Paluckas said the risk of offshore cable damage and sabotage was increasing, adding that power cable disruptions "can cost economies tens to hundreds of millions of euros due to higher prices per kilowatt-hour".

"We'll also have our own offshore wind farms, which also require extra attention," he said.

Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas said on Monday that Lithuania was activating additional energy infrastructure monitoring measures following the damage to the EstLink 2 cable.

"We are activating certain monitoring [and] management plans and looking at how to strengthen infrastructure protection. All plans were prepared earlier, but the current issue is about activating them or increasing attention. That attention is now being stepped up," he told reporters.

Next year, the Public Security Service (VST) will start protecting the LitPol Link facilities in Alytus, the NordBalt infrastructure in Klaipėda, Litgrid's data centre in Vilnius, and the Lithuanian Power Plant in Elektrėnai. The government approved this plan in early December.

The EstLink 2 power interconnection in the Baltic Sea was damaged on December 25. Preliminary reports from Finnish authorities indicate that sabotage is the leading theory behind the incident, as three other underwater cables were cut on the same day.